botssfandomcom-20200213-history
Kill Dr. Phil
Space Invaders for the Atari 2600 was the first ever arcade to home game license, becoming a huge best seller, which it included 112 games with multiple playing variables. In the game, a group of Invaders marched from one side of the screen to the other, dropping down a notch closer to the player’s laser cannon whenever they reached a screen edge, firing at the player’s cannon all the while. The player had three bunkers to take cover under, although they would become damaged with the player’s and Invaders’ laser fire, then disappear altogether if the Invaders came down too close, and if the Invaders made it down to the very bottom of the screen, the player was "invaded" and the game would end (along with if the player lost all three of their laser cannons due to being shot by Invaders would also end a game). A high-scoring Command Alien Ship would also fly overhead several times during a wave as well. Kill Dr. Phil is a graphical hack of the game -- it plays exactly the same as the original version -- just having changed game sprites, as the top three rows of Invaders are made (somewhat) into a likeliness of Phillip Calvin McGraw, aka television's "Dr. Phil" who gives psychological advice to his television audience and/or guests he has on his show. The bottom three rows of Invaders, when read vertically, spell out the word "HAM". The bunkers are now television sets, players' laser cannons have also been changed into hams, and the Command Alien Ship has now become a blimp. Game variations *Moving Shields--Barriers move back and forth *Zigzagging Laser Bombs--Invaders' shots zigzag back and forth towards the ground *Fast Laser Bombs--Invaders Bombs drop quickly *Invisible Invaders--Invaders are invisible unless one (or the blimp) is shot, which they then briefly reappear *Large ham--flipping a difficulty switch on the 2600 console to the A position makes players' hams larger Game variations, player setup There are two player alternating variations, along with variations to not only have both players onscreen at once, but there are also several competing variations as well, such as ones where if one player gets hit by Invader fire, the other player is awarded 200 points. Others include alternating shots where if one player takes too long to fire from their ham then it will automatically shoot. Other variations include ones where one player controls one ham, along with one player can only move it to the right, while the other player can only move it to the left. Other variations allow one movement and one shot per player, then the other player gets to do the same, and others have one player move the ham while the other player fires from it. Scoring *Row M Invader--5 points *A Invader--10 points *H Invader--15 points *Row four Phil Invader--20 points *Row five Phil--25 points *Row six Phil--30 points *Blimp--200 points, or 100 points in certain game variations *Other player's ham hit--200 points awarded to other player on certain competitive game variations Controls, in-game *Move ham--joystick left and right *Fire--button (Miscellaneous) *Change difficulty level--Difficulty level switch *Select game--Game Select switch *Start game--Game Reset switch Trivia *The original game came with several label variations, which are known as Picture, Text, Red, and Silver labels. This version comes as a ROM file only to be played on Atari emulators. *The author of the hack, joeybastard, has played in a band called HAM. One of their songs is called "Kill Dr. Phil"Atari Age post by joeybastard.. Links Kill Dr. Phil Atari Age page References Category:Atari 2600 BOTSS Category:Games Category:Hacked BOTSS Category:Freeware BOTSS